Barbary captivity narratives doubled as Native American captivity stories
Evidence
The immense popularity of Barbary captivity narratives reflected not only an interest in the stories of the increasing number of American sailors captured by North Africans and held in bondage and slavery, but also a demand for captivity tales related to Native Americans. These were stories about a “civilized” West and a “barbaric” North Africa. They were tales of capture, imprisonment, slavery, and escape. While white slavery was clearly denounced, the stories either indirectly justified enslavement of Africans or denounced North Africans as subhuman. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 215
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Parallels the ‘complaints about immodesty’ piece pattern of moral panics serving class/identity politics — here captivity outrage serves colonial-racial hierarchy.
Related
- Barbary captivity tales denounced white slavery while US chattel slavery rose. (similarity 0.88)
- Barbary captivity narratives framed Muslims as monsters of darkness tied to Africa (similarity 0.83)
- Barbary captivity narratives denounced white slavery while ignoring American slavery (similarity 0.82)
- Barbary captivity stories framed Muslims as inhuman monsters of darkness in American culture (similarity 0.81)
- White-slavery outrage coexisted with rising Black slavery (similarity 0.79)